Sri Lanka, Sept. 29 -- A man who crashed his vehicle through the front doors of a Michigan church opened fire with an assault rifle and set the church ablaze, killing at least four people and wounding at least eight others before dying in a shootout with police, officials said.

Police said the perpetrator, identified as Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, a former U.S. Marine from the nearby town of Burton, deliberately set fire to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which was engulfed in flames and billowing smoke.

Two of the shooting victims died and eight others were hospitalized, officials said. Several hours after the shooting, police reported finding at least two more bodies in the charred remains of the church, which had not y...